Working Up

Working Up in Project Management, Systems Engineering, Technology, and Writing

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Entries Tagged as 'Work'

How to Concentrate All Day

March 20th, 2014 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Focusing for a long period of time is contradictory, but it is possible. Graduate school in 1983 (yes, I am that old): I had to study a text on a new concept called object-oriented software. I don’t mean read the text, I mean read it, study it, master it. I faced a […]

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Tags: Work · Writing

The Peter Principle

March 13th, 2014 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips I read a classic management text. It is as true today as it was in 1969. When in college in the mid-1970s (yes, I am that old), an English professor spoke about the Peter Principle. This was a relatively new concept about how people rise to their level of incompetence. Work was […]

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Tags: Change · Choose · Work

Eliminate Vice Solve the Problem

March 3rd, 2014 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips I am a problem solver. Sometimes, however, solving a problem is the worst thing to do. This story made the rounds recently about how our military is experimenting with small jolts of electricity to keep sleep-deprived troops awake. The electricity might have fewer bad side affects than the current treatment — lots […]

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Tags: Change · Management · Problems · Work

A Sense (and Source) of Urgency

January 30th, 2014 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips A sense of urgency is obvious as people think, work, and move faster than when there is no such sense. There is a source of urgency that managers can find to help instill the sense. 1980, (yes, I am that old) I visited several contractors who were working with us. People moved […]

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Tags: Management · Work

But That’s Your Job

November 28th, 2013 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Further evidence that people tend to do only what they want to do while at work. Years ago, one of the guys in our office went missing. He was safe and sound, but we didn’t know it at the time. He was told to attend a meeting at a motel in another […]

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Tags: Management · People · Work

A Timed Writing Technique

September 19th, 2013 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips I have been using a new writing technique lately in which I set a timer for uninterrupted writing, followed by a five-minute break, followed by another timed writing period. There are countless writing techniques. My advice for these techniques: Try the technique. If if works for you, use it. Otherwise, forget it. […]

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Tags: Work · Writing

Competition and Creativity

July 11th, 2013 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Another age-old motivation technique that should probably go away. It was 30 years ago (yes, I am that old). The big boss of the organization was excited. A competing organization was trying to build a new product just like we were trying to build. By the way, we were both government organizations […]

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Tags: Government · Management · Work

We have to Ask Adults

June 24th, 2013 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Children are easy to read as they haven’t yet perfected how to “act.” Adults are different, and I work with adults, so I have to ask them questions. Children don’t walk normally unless they are thinking about something else. They tend to scamper or duck their head and half run. They think […]

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Tags: Communication · Family · Work

The One-Year Rule

June 6th, 2013 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Before putting your work on a computer, do it by pencil and paper for a year. I developed this guideline about 20 years ago. I kept seeing people spending lots of money (million$) creating databases and such to help them do their work.  Most of the work was simple, like: We have […]

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Tags: Systems · Work

DIN – Do It Now

May 27th, 2013 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Once again I attempt to make a million dollars be creating a three-letter acronym – DIN. Some 30 years ago (yes, I am that old), I was pouring myself a cup of coffee at work. On the bulletin board in front of me was an article cut from the newspaper (see ANOTHER […]

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Tags: Culture · Design · Work